The Bat & The Cat

Part 2: Welcome Back

I woke up drenched in sweat. I sat up, breathing hard and fully aware of my arousal caused from such a vivid dream. I fell back with a long sigh and ran my hands over my face. These dreams of Selina were happening more and more frequently and it was starting to push me to a place where I couldn't focus. I already had a hard time sleeping, but throw in frustrated sexually-charged dreams into the mix and it made me feel unsatisfied and on edge with almost everything, especially when I went out on patrol. I circled around Selina's old apartment and the Iceberg lounge while on patrol but... I knew she wasn't there. Being around those places helped me remember the time I got to have with her.

I looked over at my clock and it read 1am in glaring red digital numbers. It was time to get up anyway. I had attempted to sleep longer than I normal did and now I was more wound up that before. With an annoyed groan, I slid out of bed and walked out of my room and down the hall into the study. The same room from my dream, but I kept focus and walked over to the Shakespeare bust that was perched up on a pillar in between two bookshelves. I pressed. hidden button behind it at the base and the bookshelf slid away from each other to reveal a secret elevator door. I leaned my face in close to the optical scanner and it read my eyes and opened the door. I stepped in and closed my eyes, having a few moments of peace before I switched full focus on patrol.

Once down below, I analyzed some photos I had taken of the Penguin a week ago. He's been sending his men out to the docks to retrieve any salvageable Drops and ingredients to make more. I knew the Drops crisis would be worse now that businesses were opening back up after the flooding, and Penguin was ramping up to make up the money lost from the chaos. I dropped my sleep pants and slid into the thick layers of leather and laced up my boots. It took a good amount of time suiting up, but it was a necessary time expense to ensure stray bullets didn't find a hole in my layers. The kevlar chest and torso cover, a recalibrated batarang, my shoulder and arm kevlar sleeves and my weaponized bracers.

The final detail was the black grease paint around my eyes. It was a pain in the ass to apply, but it was necessary. The more of my real face that is concealed, the better. After applying the paint I pulled the cowl over my head and felt all over to ensure everything for the suit was in place and where it needed to be. I grabbed the grapple hooks and slid them into place on my bracers and got inside my car. People of Gotham have started calling it my 'bat mobile'. This version of my car isn't the final idea but it's keeping my entire body from shattering in chases so it'll do for now.

I exited the cave and didn't thrust on the gas until I was well into the city; didn't need people seeing the 'bat mobile' coming from the direction of Wayne Manor. Most of the main roads were still barricaded but nowhere was flooded anymore. The national guard needed the new sea wall to settle into it's foundation for a few weeks to ensure there were no weak spots or leaks. This city has lost too many innocent people to the floods, so the average citizen was heading the warnings and staying off the streets. The crime of this city couldn't keep away. They were addicted to their own venture of stealing and destroying. It made it easier to spot them at least. The only people walking around main streets would be the ones scoping businesses out for looting.

I parked my car in an alleyway and grappled to the top of the condemned apartments next door to the old fishing dock building that Penguin had used for his Drops dealings. Back when the floods first happened, I rigged the entire place with microphones so when I got close enough, my ear piece could pick up the signal and I could hear any talking happening inside. There was only silence; nothing was happening and no one was there. It was a good thing, but it could also mean Penguin moved his errands to a different location. I decided to head further down to the Iceberg Lounge. It was where he had decided to hold up during the flood. Once close enough, I used the cover of the water tower across from the street and used my binoculars to locate him inside the building.